Journal
JOURNAL OF ATMOSPHERIC AND SOLAR-TERRESTRIAL PHYSICS
Volume 72, Issue 1, Pages 51-61Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jastp.2009.10.007
Keywords
Mesospheric clouds; PMC; Noctilucent clouds; NLC; PMSE; Homogeneous nucleation; Mesosphere; Mesopause; Amorphous solid water; Amorphous ice and gravity waves
Funding
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/D009308/1]
- NASA
- NERC [NE/D009308/1] Funding Source: UKRI
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Condensed water particles are known to exist in the high latitude upper mesosphere during the summer months However, the mechanism or mechanisms through which they nucleate remains uncertain It is postulated here that particles of amorphous solid water (ASW, condensed water with a non-crystalline structure) may nucleate homogeneously in the summer mesosphere Using classical nucleation theory and a one-dimensional model. it is shown that more than 10(5) cm(-3) amorphous solid water particles can nucleate homogeneously under mesopause conditions. Furthermore, it is shown that homogeneous nucleation competes with heterogeneous nucleation oil meteoric smoke particles when the cooling rate is >0.5 K/h. The homogeneous nucleation of amorphous solid water could provide an explanation for the high density of ice particles (many thousands per cm 3) thought to be required for electron depletions in the upper mesosphere. A parameterisation for homogeneous nucleation is presented which can be used in other mesospheric cloud models. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved
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